


There Suddenly Appeared

by bold_seer



Category: A Place to Call Home (TV)
Genre: F/F, Female Relationships, Ficlet, Moving On, Season/Series 04
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-17 14:03:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13078401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bold_seer/pseuds/bold_seer
Summary: “We’re not like James.”





	There Suddenly Appeared

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lionessvalenti](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lionessvalenti/gifts).



Another drink in, Olivia confesses, “Lloyd kissed me – ” She describes the act discreetly, then quietly adds, “I miss it.”

Anna giggles. “You don’t need a man for that.” At Olivia’s scandalised look, she continues quickly, “Or any other kind of kissing.” 

“That’s inappropriate.” Ever the English lady. Although Olivia takes off her pearl necklace at times, she never lets go of her manners.

“We’re modern women,” Anna counters, proud and determined, but not without a hint of mischief.

“We’re not like James.” Still spoken in a whisper. Yet, as far as she can tell, Olivia carries no bitterness in her heart towards James anymore. Or his entanglements. 

“No, we’re not. Or Henry. Or Harry. But they’re good men.” She catches Olivia’s eye. “And you know that’s not everything they are? It shouldn’t define them, constrain them.”

Olivia, half convinced, admits defeat gracefully. “I know. I was terribly cruel to Harry.”

Out of place like Gino, Anna thinks fondly, and not at all like him. A sting in her chest; if she’d only made him see. 

“But with his sister? I could never look you in the eye again. I couldn’t look _James_ in the eye.”

Except James isn’t her brother, and Father isn’t her father, and her nephew isn’t her nephew, he never was. The life she thought she had: unspun. While she lost her mother years ago, she’s gained a mamma and papà since. James will always be her brother. And Georgie is every bit a Bligh.

Olivia, the one constant to care for. Her confidant, her friend. Her sister-in-law, like a sister. Or not.

“Oh, Livvy.” Is it so wrong, wanting to feel wanted? Useful again, after Gino. Yearning for something that doesn’t remind her of her own failings. Closeness and comfort. Something that can’t possibly result in –

“Let’s not rush anything,” Olivia says carefully. “But would you think me silly if I asked you to lie beside me?”

That night, with a strange familiar body next to hers, she looks up at the ceiling. And Anna thinks, maybe there is a new life waiting for her tomorrow. Not running away like Olivia wanted to, escaping her present dismay to England. As she and Gino had done, gone to Europe, hiding from a future that would always catch up on them. She’ll shrug off the past instead, like Scarlett, turning adversities into triumphs.

Home matters, and she will always be Anna Bligh, the former Anna Poletti. If she can carve out a life where she is less a Bligh than _herself_. Where she can write, feel, experience things she’d never even thought of before - 

Who knows where she’ll end up.


End file.
